Those who are renting the premises are now running a private hospital and a tailoring shop.

People who spoke to Zodiak have described the move as a sign of demise of MPC services.

“In my view post office is dead. Services have gone down. This was not the case in the past,” says Duncan Gadinala, a resident of Bangwe Green Malata.

Another community member, Harry Mwafulirwa, feels; “I believe MPC’s services have gone down due to the coming of new technologies.

“Most people no longer use the post office to communicate, they use mobile gadgets,” he said.

A resident of Mthandizi in the area, Raymond Banda, feels it’s an error for MPC management to let out the structures.

“We have had questions without answers. Who has made that decision? Who gets the rentals, government? We have been looking for answers to such questions,” Banda said.

He nevertheless said MPC management may have done the right thing as they want to show that there is life at the post office since their services are almost irrelevant now.

But spokesperson for the statutory body, Idah Nkolimbo, says MPC has let out some of its fixed assets to generate revenue for the struggling entity which is a 2000 splinter of MTL.

“Malawi Posts Corporation has got huge fixed assets that are all over the country. What is happening is in line with the change that happened in 2000 following the split.

“MPC scaled down its works. There is idle space that MPC does not have use for, hence the letting out,” she explained adding. “This has been happening for the past 15 years and Bangwe is just one of them”.

In other post office premises, she disclosed, SACCOs, private banks, and various institutions are renting because MPC has good structures located in remote parts of the country.

“We are just putting the structures to good use,” Nkolingo said.